Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad of the opportunity to contribute to this most important debate. I thank my party's agriculture spokesman, An Teachta Ó Cuív, for putting down the motion because it affords us the opportunity to debate in the House what is a very important issue at this time.

I am sure there was opposition to the concept of Leader companies and partnerships and their establishment a number of years ago for simply for the sake of opposition but their track record of performance in the intervening time has demonstrated how wise was the decision to set up such a structure. Particularly with the Common Agricultural Policy Pillar 2 funding, which is an integral part of the support for agriculture and rural areas in the country, we need a specific agency that is able to cater for the types of projects which would be eligible to apply for such grant aid.

The idea of subsuming these partnership companies under the general umbrella of the local authorities needs to be reconsidered. It is entirely undesirable to have them as part of the local authority administrative structure where issues relating to development proposals in a functional area can become the subject of a motion of censure or criticism at local authority meetings. The potential for undermining the entrepreneurial spirit across the rural parts, and, indeed, urban parts, of the country is real and potentially damaging, and needs to be considered. The administrative cultures that one will get with partnership companies and local authorities are diametrically different. Development officers who have to interview individuals in their communities, who invite in individuals with their different entrepreneurial and development projects, have to meet them to consider matters. They must look to see what sort of support is available to them.

One should look at the statistics for any of the areas across Ireland today. I am looking at those of my county in the constituency of Louth-East Meath.

I requested these statistics in recent days. In the period from 2009 to 2010, approximately 700 people either gained employment or became self-employed. That was at a time when the economy was labouring; the recession had hit us and the potential for creating jobs was at a low ebb. Those statistics tell us about the work the Louth Leader Partnership was doing during that period.

From 2011 to 2013, some 3,716 individuals were supported, while 17,082 young people were engaged in particular programmes. In addition, some 540 local community groups were supported, while 815 people participated in education courses. Some 2,690 people participated in labour market training, while 933 people were supported into employment or self-employment. Those statistics graphically underline the importance of maintaining the status quoas regards this developmental administration structure whch has a successful track record.

I am sure there were individual circumstances around the country whereby, due to a combination of other elements, some companies were not as successful as others. However, we now need to examine best practice templates for running such development programmes. It is not a good idea to bring them under the umbrella of local authorities, so the matter needs to be reconsidered.

At a time when we require change and need to be seen to take political action in particular areas, the whole idea of quango hunting should be reconsidered. There may be small, cost-effective companies that are doing an excellent job of work, but an annual value-for-money assessment of them is needed. Those are the criteria to be used in order to decide what structures will be required in future.

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